CHAPTER 3

DEFINITION BPR :

 Business process re-engineering (BPR) is the analysis and redesign of workflow within and between enterprises.

For example : The manager could discover the best process for performing work and re-engineering the process to optimize productivity.

  

               

               THE ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

  

BPR literature identified several so called disruptive technologies that were supposed to challenge traditional wisdom about how work should be performed.

• Shared databases, making information available at many places
• Expert systems, allowing generalists to perform specialist tasks
• Telecommunication networks, allowing organizations to be centralized and decentralized at the same time
• Decision-support tools, allowing decision-making to be a part of everybody's job
• Wireless data communication and portable computers, allowing field personnel to work office independent
• Interactive videodisk, to get in immediate contact with potential buyers
• Automatic identification and tracking, allowing things to tell where they are, instead of requiring to be found
• High performance computing, allowing on-the-fly planning and revisioning

Many lessons were learned and many elements were identified as essential to the success of a BPR activity. Some important BPR success factors, which will be discussed in further details later, include, but are not limited to the following:

1. Organization wide commitment.
2. BPR team composition.
3. Business needs analysis.
4. Adequate IT infrastructure.
5. Effective change management.
6. Ongoing continuous improvement